A Healthy Or More Nutritious Spaghetti Bolognaise?

[CrimsonThunder]

Hey everyone I searched for a recipie for Spaghetti Bolognaise and I found this one and A few ideas to make it healthier?

Preparation Time

10 minutes
Cooking Time

100 minutes
Ingredients (serves 8 )

* 1 tbs olive oil
* 2 large chopped onions
* 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
* 100g chopped pancetta
* 1kg beef mince
* 2 cups beef stock
* 1 cup red wine
* 3 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
* 1/4 cup tomato paste
* 500g spaghetti

Method


1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook onions, garlic and pancetta for 4-5 minutes. Increase heat to high, gradually add mince and cook until well browned.

2. Add beef stock, red wine, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Season with

salt and pepper.

3. Cook spaghetti in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain. Serve half the bolognaise with the pasta and freeze the remaining sauce for later. Serve with grated parmesan, if desired.

To make it healthier or more nutritious I will add carrot, zucchini and mushrooms. I will use wholemeal spaghetti and not be using the pancetta or wine.

Any other veggies I could add or is that pretty much it?

CHEERS!!

[Shay]

When I make meatballs I add some finely shredded carrot, celery and parsley

[court]

I swear i just wrote here and it didnt register so apologies if i post twice i will delete!!

I put all sorts of veges in my spag bol, use premium mince, low sodium tomatos etc and no olive oil justa quick squirt with the canola oil!

[EvilWombatQueen]

You could use textured vegetable protein (TVP; also known as textured soy protein, or TSP) instead of mince, or to lengthen the mince (it's much cheaper than mince so it's a good way to save money too!) It's made of de-fatted soy and is 50% protein. You can buy it in dried form by the bag at health food stores. I use it in pasta sauces all the time. It's a great vegetarian subsitute for minced meat.

Wikipedia: textured vegetable protein.

Because it's dry you need to reconstitute it. My favourite method is to cook a very runny tomato-based sauce full of veggies. Once all the veggies are cooked I add enough TVP to make the sauce a bit thick (remember that it will swell a bit, so don't overdo it!). Then I put the lid back on the pot, turn off the heat on the stove, and let the whole thing sit there for 15 minutes for the TVP to absorb the liquid. That gives just enough time to cook a pot full of pasta so it's all ready at the same time.

The only downside is that too much can make you a bit gassy. I'd recommend having a couple of cups of peppermint tea afterwards to alleviate any bloating.

[sizing_down]

Use spray oil instead of pouring oil into the pan- you will use a lot less. You can also drain off the meat juices after cooking the mince to get rid of the fat from that. Using some (or all) pork, turkey or roo mince as well is another good option because they are lean meats otherwise get the leanest mince you can. Lamb mince makes a nice alternative but is a bit more fatty.

You could also add grated squash or very finely chopped spinach/silverbeet/bok choy and I've even had it with very small broccoli florets.

We usually eat bolognaise on rice instead of pasta. It soaks up the sauce better and my son finds it easier to eat but having started doing it both hubby and I find we prefer it that way. Basmati rice is the way to go- it has the lowest GI while also being a fluffy long grain rice.

Hope that gave you some more ideas.

[CronicBadger]

On the subject of making it healthier, perhaps try Quorn Mince. It's made from mycoprotein (a fungus), tastes like meat, has the same texture, very little fat and is soy-free. The only potential issue is that some people who have mold allergies may get a mild reaction to it.

I love the stuff and use it instead of meat mince.

[Sniggles]

My partner is pasta crazy so spag is a regular meal for him. To make it a lot healthier for both of us, and something I can occasionally tuck into, I try to find the best lean mince (either beef, pork, veal or turkey, or a combination of those) Majority of my cookware is non stick so I very rarely add any oils/fats especially in the frying pan and drain the mince after it is browned as well. I try to make my own tomato sauce so I can control how much additives are going into the meal (sodium etc) as well.

And of course, adding as many vegies as I can possibly cram in! Usually finely diced onion, fresh garlic, a lot of finely chopped spinach, celery and capsicum, finely grated carrot and any others that I might have on hand at the time. They seem to dissolve a little into the sauce as it cooks so its not very noticeable but its definitely in there! Usually ends up being much more veg in the sauce than meat but we love it and its delicious so no complaints!

[kehussy]

Wow! Not only it seems delicious but it has a lot of calories too. I think all the ingredients that you have mentioned is sufficient to make a wholesome Bolognaise.

[Sniggles]

I tend to have much smaller portions than he does, choosing to eat most meals in a small bowl for portion control and the bowl makes it seem like I'm having a nice big bowl when I'm really not Would much rather calories from veg etc than heavily refined foods so I usually don't have the pasta component, just the sauce. If I do, its in very small amounts I just ilke the versatility of the sauce, and being able to put such a variety of veg in it and we can both eat it without seemingly eating forkful after forkful of plain, boring veg!

[Deblow]

By adding a variety of vegetables including chick peas to the sauce I manage to get my kids to eat a lot more vegetables than they normally would and because it is spaghetti they don't think of it as lots of vegetables. Its a win win meal - they like it and like that they eat lots of vegetables.